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How to watch and follow Kentucky Basketball in the SEC Tournament

Can the Cats pull off another SEC Tournament title in Nashville? Here’s what their path would look like.

By Ethan DeWitt and Jason Marcum
@ethandewitt1
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Toppin Reeves Auburn Dylan Ballard - A Sea Of Blue

The Kentucky Wildcats and the BBN will be taking over Nashville this weekend looking to bring home another SEC Tournament trophy back to Lexington.

After an up-and-down season for this Kentucky team, momentum in SEC play pushed them forward to landing the No. 3 seed in this year's tournament.

With the double-bye, the Cats will take the floor for the late game on Friday night. We here at A Sea of Blue wanted to give you a quick look at who UK could square off with every step of the way if they make it to Sunday’s Championship game.

Bet on the SEC Tournament and other sports at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Below, we’ll project a path for the Wildcats to the SEC Championship Game if they were to play the highest seed in all three rounds.

Quarterfinal Round

  • Likely Opponent: Vanderbilt Commodores
  • Date: Friday, March 10th
  • Time: Approximately 9 pm ET
  • TV: SEC Network
  • Online Stream: WatchESPN
  • Kentucky Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens have the UK radio network call on the UK Sports Radio Network.
  • Replay: WatchESPN and SEC Network (check local listings).
  • Rosters: UK | VU
  • Team Sheets: UK | VU
  • Stats To Know: UK | VU
  • Last Matchup: Vanderbilt won 68-66 at Rupp Arena on March 1st.

Heading into Friday night's game, the Cats will get the winner of Vanderbilt and Georgia/LSU.

First, we need to talk about the Georgia and LSU game. The Dawgs pulled off a two-point victory over LSU in Athens less than a month ago and should be a fun matchup for the nightcap game on Wednesday.

Either way, I think whoever ends up in that matchup with Vanderbilt ultimately falls to the Commodores. That sets up Round 3 of Cats vs Dores.

Although Vandy played a solid game in Lexington, a cold shooting night and an injury to Cason Wallace really set the Cats back in that game. This one feels like it should be similar to the one in Nashville earlier this season, where Kentucky rolled past Vanderbilt...

However, that was a game in which Kentucky had everyone healthy and got good production out of CJ Fredrick (10 points and five assists), Sahivr Wheeler (four points and five assists), and Cason Wallace (10 points and five rebounds).

Wheeler is looking unlikely to play this week, while Fredrick isn’t 100% as he deals with a cracked rib. Wallace should play this week, but he may not be as healthy as he was in the first game in Nashville.

And of course, Vanderbilt has been playing much better as of late. They’ve won eight of nine games, including Quad 1 wins vs. Tennessee, at Florida, and at Kentucky. That’s put the Dores on the cusp of making the NCAA Tournament — they were recently on the Next Four Out line of Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology — so they’ll need to, at the very least, make the SEC Championship Game to have any hope of making it to the Big Dance.

In other words, assuming Kentucky plays Vanderbilt on Friday, expect it to be a battle that comes down to the wire.

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Semifinal Round

This is where the postseason thought of beating a really good team starts for Kentucky.

Luckily, you have beaten all three potential opponents this season in Texas A&M, Auburn, and Arkansas, but that gives each team even more of a chip on their shoulder heading into that potential Saturday matchup.

Arkansas is extremely dangerous if they can get the shots to fall. Auburn is an NCAA Tournament team, no matter what the score was in Lexington just a few weeks back.

However, this one screams another showdown with Buzz Williams and the Aggies. With a huge win over Alabama this past Saturday, Texas A&M will be rolling into Nashville thinking they can take home the tournament title.

If they make it this far, the Cats will have to show up and win another physical matchup to escape with a win on Saturday, no matter who the opponent is.

SEC Championship

Much like on the PGA Tour, the SEC Tournament gives us a Sunday Championship round.

Similar to the iconic-red, Tiger Woods, wears on Sundays, the SEC Tournament will be painted crimson in Nashville as Alabama should be the contender out of the top half of the bracket for Sunday’s game.

With a difficult matchup against Tennessee or Missouri on Saturday, this is where talent wins out, and Brandon Miller and the Tide are just the best squads in the top half.

If Kentucky can make it to Sunday, the talk of the town is going to be the beatdown they faced in Tuscaloosa earlier this season.

Of course, nothing is a given when it comes to the postseason, and Alabama didn’t exactly play great down the stretch of the regular season. If the Tide falter, other teams that could make it to the title game from this side of the bracket include the Tennessee Volunteers, Missouri Tigers, and Mississippi State Bulldogs.

In fact, Mississippi State is right on the bubble and probably needs to at least make it to Sunday to feel good about making the Big Dance. That kind of desperation is sometimes enough to propel underdogs into deep postseason runs, so don’t sleep on Mississippi State this week.

Once again, the NCAA Tournament has a point where you just have to go out and beat a good team. That will be the case on Sunday in Nashville, regardless of who makes it.

The Wildcats appear to have gotten this thing rolling again after a huge victory against Arkansas on Saturday. Can they continue it as they roll into Music City?

Let’s hope so.

A Sea of Blue comes jam-packed with the best Kentucky Wildcats links, news, analysis, and some other fun stuff for our readers, so make sure you go ‘like’ our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. And as always, Go Cats!!!

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